Shkodran Mustafi warns Arsenal rivals that Lucas Perez is 'uncomfortable' to play against

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Standard Sport7 September 2016

Lucas Perez will be a test for Arsenal's Premier League rivals because he can make defenders feel 'uncomfortable', according to new Gunners team-mate Shkodran Mustafi.

Arsenal signed Lucas for £17million at the end of the summer transfer window after Arsene Wenger had been frustrated in the search for further forward recruits.

Wenger insisted that Lucas was not a panic buy, with the 27-year-old scoring 17 La Liga goals in 36 appearances for Deportivo La Coruna last season.

Two of those goals came against the Gunners' £35m signing Mustafi when the centre-back was at Valencia, and the Germany international has warned opponents that Lucas will prove a handful this season.

“He is uncomfortable to play against,” Mustafi told Arsenal Player. “He’s a good striker - he has everything a striker needs.

“He’s someone you can play well with. He doesn’t just run around and wait for someone to give him a pass to score a goal.

"He works a lot for the team as well and he creates chances. He’s in the right place at the right time, as he showed last year in La Liga.

"I played there for two years and I know it’s not that easy to score many goals in La Liga, because you have great defenders there as well.

“I think he’s going to help the team a lot.”

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Lucas is convinced that he made the right call to leave Deportivo for Arsenal, saying: "It's very exciting. To play with the best, to compete with the best... It makes me very happy.

“It's a challenge, and if someone had told me at ten years old when I was playing in the streets of La Coruna, I would have thrown them off a bridge, I'd have said 'you're crazy'.”

Mustafi and Lucas are both available for their Arsenal debuts as the Gunners face Southampton in a return to Premier League action on Saturday.

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